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Udaipur connect of legendary Indian Cricketer Salim Durrani

"He was dumbfounded when i hit him for a massive six!" - Dr Arun Zachariah, ex-Vice Principal BN College, Udaipur

 

Salim Durrani, the legendary Indian left arm all-rounder breathed his last on 2 April 2023 at his hometown Jamnagar in Gujarat.

Known for his flamboyant on field presence and ability knock sixes on demand, Salim has a strong relationship with Udaipur. The First Class (Ranji) cricketers from Udaipur in the 1960s have played alongside Salim.

Salim was born to Afghan cricketer Abdul Aziz Durrani in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1934 and when he was just 8 months old, the family moved to Karachi. Abdul Aziz took up employment with the Maharaja of Jamnagar in Gujarat and the family moved to Jamnagar. As Abdul Aziz was playing non-Test cricket as a wicketkeeper internationally. He was also a  part of CK Nayduโ€™s side that went to Australia for a test in 1935-36. The young Salim grew up in a sporting environment. He played other sport like football and tennis, but took a liking to cricket which he eventually continued to play professionally and played for India from 1960 to 1973.

After partition, Abdul Aziz moved to Pakistan and became a coach while Salim and his brother stayed back with their mother in Jamnagar. Salim continued playing cricket professionally.

The Udaipur connect

While Salim Durrani played a few domestic matches for Gujarat, he then moved to Rajasthan with the support of the Maharana Bhagwat Singh Mewar of Udaipur. Rajasthan was quite a renowned Ranji side in the 1960s and the team reached the Ranji Trophy finals seven times, losing to Bombay (Mumbai) all the seven times.

His playing partners from Udaipur

Dr. Arun Zachariah, ex-Vice Principal of Bhupal Nobles College shares his association with Salim Durrani in the below piece.

๐™ธ ๐š ๐šŠ๐šœ ๐š๐š˜๐š›๐š๐šž๐š—๐šŠ๐š๐šŽ ๐šŽ๐š—๐š˜๐šž๐š๐š‘ ๐š๐š˜ ๐š™๐š•๐šŠ๐šข ๐šŠ ๐š•๐š˜๐š ๐š˜๐š ๐šŒ๐š›๐š’๐šŒ๐š”๐šŽ๐š (๐š˜๐š— ๐™ผ.๐™ฑ. ๐™ฒ๐š˜๐š•๐š•๐šŽ๐š๐šŽ ๐šŒ๐š›๐š’๐šŒ๐š”๐šŽ๐š ๐š๐š›๐š˜๐šž๐š—๐š), ๐š ๐š’๐š๐š‘ ๐š‚๐šŠ๐š•๐š’๐š– ๐™ฑ๐š‘๐šŠ๐š’ ๐šŠ๐š—๐š ๐™ฝ๐šŠ๐š’๐š๐šž ๐š‚๐š‹ (๐š‚๐š‘๐š›๐š’ ๐™ฐ๐š›๐š“๐šž๐š— ๐™ฝ๐šŠ๐š’๐š๐šž), ๐š‹๐šŽ๐š๐š˜๐š›๐šŽ ๐š ๐šŽ ๐š•๐šŽ๐š๐š ๐š๐š˜๐š› ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ ๐™ฐ๐š•๐š•-๐™ธ๐š—๐š๐š’๐šŠ ๐™ธ๐š—๐š๐šŽ๐š›-๐š„๐š—๐š’๐šŸ๐šŽ๐š›๐šœ๐š’๐š๐šข ๐™ฒ๐š›๐š’๐šŒ๐š”๐šŽ๐š ๐šƒ๐š˜๐šž๐š›๐š—๐šŠ๐š–๐šŽ๐š—๐š๐šœ (๐š’๐š— 1964 ๐šŠ๐š—๐š 1965). ๐™ฑ๐š˜๐š๐š‘ ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ๐šœ๐šŽ ๐šŒ๐š›๐š’๐šŒ๐š”๐šŽ๐š๐šŽ๐š›๐šœ (๐š๐š›๐š˜๐š– ๐™ธ๐š—๐š๐š’๐šŠ๐š— ๐™ฒ๐š›๐š’๐šŒ๐š”๐šŽ๐š ๐š๐šŽ๐šŠ๐š–) ๐šž๐šœ๐šŽ๐š ๐š๐š˜ ๐šŒ๐š˜๐š–๐šŽ ๐š๐š˜ ๐šŒ๐š˜๐šŠ๐šŒ๐š‘ ๐šž๐šœ, ๐šŽ๐šœ๐š™ ๐š‹๐šŽ๐šŒ๐šŠ๐šž๐šœ๐šŽ *๐™ผ.๐™บ. ๐™ฐ๐š›๐šŸ๐š’๐š—๐š ๐™บ๐šž๐š–๐šŠ๐š› ๐š‚๐š’๐š—๐š๐š‘๐š“๐š’* (๐š—๐š˜๐š  *๐š‚๐š‘๐š›๐š’๐š“๐š’ ๐™ฐ๐š›๐šŸ๐š’๐š—๐š ๐š‚๐š’๐š—๐š๐š‘๐š“๐š’ ๐™ผ๐šŽ๐š ๐šŠ๐š›*) ๐š ๐šŠ๐šœ ๐š˜๐šž๐š› ๐š๐šŽ๐šŠ๐š–-๐šŒ๐šŠ๐š™๐š๐šŠ๐š’๐š—, ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ๐š—.

๐™พ๐š—๐šŒ๐šŽ, ๐š๐šž๐š›๐š’๐š—๐š ๐šŠ ๐šŒ๐š˜๐šŠ๐šŒ๐š‘๐š’๐š—๐š-๐šœ๐šŽ๐šœ๐šœ๐š’๐š˜๐š—, ๐™ธ ๐šœ๐šŽ๐š—๐š ๐š‚๐šŠ๐š•๐š’๐š– ๐™ฑ๐š‘๐šŠ๐š’'๐šœ ๐š•๐šŽ๐š-๐šœ๐š™๐š’๐š—๐š—๐šŽ๐š› ๐š๐š˜๐š› ๐šŠ ๐š–๐šŠ๐š“๐šŽ๐šœ๐š๐š’๐šŒ ๐š‚๐™ธ๐š‡ ! ๐™ธ ๐š ๐šŠ๐šœ ๐šš๐šž๐š’๐š๐šŽ ๐šŠ๐šœ๐š๐š˜๐š—๐š’๐šœ๐š‘๐šŽ๐š ๐š‹๐šข ๐š–๐šข ๐šŠ๐šŒ๐š‘๐š’๐šŽ๐šŸ๐šŽ๐š–๐šŽ๐š—๐š and ๐š‚๐šŠ๐š•๐š’๐š– ๐™ฑ๐š‘๐šŠ๐š’ ๐š ๐šŠ๐šœ ๐š“๐šž๐šœ๐š ๐š๐šž๐š–๐š‹๐š๐š˜๐šž๐š—๐š๐šŽ๐š ๐šŒ๐š˜๐š–๐š™๐š•๐šŽ๐š๐šŽ๐š•๐šข, ๐š‹๐šข ๐š๐š‘๐šŠ๐š ๐š‚๐š’๐šก, ๐š๐š›๐š˜๐š– ๐šŠ ๐šŒ๐š˜๐š•๐š•๐šŽ๐š๐šŽ-๐šœ๐š๐šž๐š๐šŽ๐š—๐š!  ๐™ท๐šŽ ๐š•๐š˜๐š˜๐š”๐šŽ๐š ๐šŠ๐š ๐š–๐šŽ ๐š’๐š— ๐šŒ๐š˜๐š–๐š™๐š•๐šŽ๐š๐šŽ ๐š๐š’๐šœ๐š‹๐šŽ๐š•๐š’๐šŽ๐š ๐šŠ๐š—๐š ๐šœ๐šŠ๐š’๐š, โ€œ๐™ฐ๐š›๐šž๐š—, เคฏเฅ‡ เคคเฅ‡เคจเฅ‡ เค•เฅเคฏเคพ เค•เคฟเคฏเคพ ? เคคเฅ‡เคจเฅ‡ เคธเคฒเฅ€เคฎ เคฆเฅเคฐเฅเคฐเคพเคจเฅ€ เค•เฅ€ เค—เฅ‡เค‚เคฆ เคชเคฐ เค›เค•เฅเค•เคพ เค เฅ‹เค• เคฆเคฟเคฏเคพ !"

๐™พ๐š— ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ ๐š˜๐š๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐šŽ๐š—๐š ๐š˜๐š ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ ๐š™๐š’๐š๐šŒ๐š‘, ๐™ฝ๐šŠ๐š’๐š๐šž ๐š‚๐š‹. ๐š ๐šŠ๐šœ ๐š‘๐š˜๐š•๐š๐š’๐š—๐š ๐š‘๐š’๐šœ ๐š๐šž๐š–๐š–๐šข, ๐šŠ๐š—๐š ๐š•๐šŠ๐šž๐š๐š‘๐š’๐š—๐š ๐šž๐š—๐šŒ๐š˜๐š—๐š๐š›๐š˜๐š•๐š•๐šŠ๐š‹๐š•๐šข. ๐™ท๐šŽ ๐šœ๐šŠ๐š’๐š ๐šŠ๐š•๐š˜๐šž๐š, ๐š๐š•๐šŽ๐šŽ๐š๐šž๐š•๐š•๐šข, ๐š๐š˜ ๐š‚๐šŠ๐š•๐š’๐š– ๐™ฑ๐š‘๐šŠ๐š’, "เคธเคฒเฅ€เคฎ, เคคเฅ‡เคฐเฅ‡ เคธเคพเคฅ เคญเฅ€ "เคเคธเฅ€" เคšเฅ‹เคŸ เคนเฅ‹เคจเฅ€ เคฅเฅ€ เค•เฅเคฏเคพ ?!"

๐š†๐š‘๐šŠ๐š ๐šŠ ๐š‘๐šŠ๐š—๐š๐šœ๐š˜๐š–๐šŽ, ๐šœ๐š๐šข๐š•๐š’๐šœ๐š‘ ๐šŒ๐š›๐š’๐šŒ๐š”๐šŽ๐š๐šŽ๐š› ๐š‘๐šŽ ๐š ๐šŠ๐šœ !! ๐™ท๐š˜๐š  ๐™ธ ๐š–๐š’๐šœ๐šœ ๐š๐š‘๐š˜๐šœ๐šŽ ๐š–๐šŽ๐š–๐š˜๐š›๐šŠ๐š‹๐š•๐šŽ ๐š๐šŠ๐šข๐šœ, ๐š ๐š’๐š๐š‘ ๐šœ๐šž๐šŒ๐š‘ ๐šŽ๐š—๐š๐šŽ๐šŠ๐š›๐š’๐š—๐š ๐š™๐šŽ๐š˜๐š™๐š•๐šŽ on the cricket-field . . . !!

The news of his death takes away all the joyful nostalgia of memories with Salim bhai. May Allah bless Salim bhaiโ€™s sould with eternal peace and may his family derive strength and courage from the prayers of crores of grateful Indians and committed fans.

Dr. Arun Zachariah